7/16/2007

MFASummaryNew

The arrested terrorist admitted to involvement in the murder of Tali Hatuel and her four daughters in May 2004.

GovXContentSection

(Communicated by Israeli security sources)

During a joint IDF and ISA operation in the Gaza Strip on June 6, 2007, a wanted Islamic Jihad operative, Jihad Salah Saliman Abu Dahar, was arrested and later admitted to his involvement in a number of terror attacks, including the deadly attack in May 2004 in which a mother and her four daughters were murdered on the Kissufim road.

Jihad Abu Dahar, a 25-year-old resident of Karara in the Gaza Strip, was arrested on June 6. During the investigation conducted by the ISA and Israeli police, Abu Dahar admitted that in the weeks prior to the attack and on the day of the attack, he had arranged surveillance and the filming of IDF activities in the area. On the day of the attack, the terrorists disguised themselves as vegetable merchants riding a donkey and carriage, which Abu Dahar had obtained and kept for them prior to the attack. On that day, Abu Dahar notified the terrorists when the area was clear of IDF soldiers in order to ensure they were not stopped.

Additionally, Abu Dahar confessed that during his activities for the Islamic Jihad, he made use of the close proximity of his house to the Kissufim road in order to conduct surveillance and to assist terrorists planning attacks in the region.

Jihad Abu Dahar was involved in a number of attacks, among them:

In 2005, he assisted two suicide bombers by transporting them to the Kissufim region and also supplied them with two AK-47 assault rifles and an RPG missile. Ultimately the attack did not take place. However, Abu Dahar supplied additional weapons to the same terrorists one week later, when they returned to the area and attacked an Israeli civilian truck. An IDF force returned fire and killed the two attackers.

In the beginning of 2004, Abu Dahar was involved in the detonation of an explosive device against an IDF vehicle. In addition, Jihad Abu Dahar admitted to involvement in a number of attempts to carry out attacks in the region of the Kissufim road.

An indictment was issued today against Abu Dahar by the Southern District Advocate in the Be'er Sheva District Court.